Any replacement tire recommendations? My SL65 is mostly a nice weather only garage queen, so I'm mostly concerned with handling and traction (the current factory Continentals have horrible traction issues). Any opinions or thoughts would be sincerely appreciated.

 

Welcome! Please post a photo of the SL65. Try posting in the R231 or the AMG sections of the site where you will receive good input.

 

moved to R231 AMG forum...
look for low treadwear tires... michelin PS, hankook RS3, etc...

 

toyo proxy 1 or bridgestone s04

 

I have a 2017 SL65 with factory Conti 5P's. I agree the launch traction is poor, the traction control engages at any speed below 50 on acceleration. What they do well is wet road performance, especially here in SoCal on our "lubricated" roads that occur with the first rain after a month of dry weather. I have discovered that carrying 150 pounds of bagged stone in trunk eliminates the traction control engagement. There is still wheelspin but no traction control, the car is far quicker accelerating at low speed. I do not plan to carry 150 pounds in the trunk so stickier tires are needed. My plan is to replace the Conti 5P's with Michelin 4s tires, these are stickier than the Conti's and have good wet road traction. I looked at the Michelin Cup 2's but could not accept the downside. Cold tire traction is no better than the Conti 5p, they need to be hot to work at max potential. So without a burnout box in the driveway or a hard 5 mile run to heat them up they are no real improvement. Their resistance to hydroplaning is also low. We have the Michelin PS 4s tires on our E63S. They are definitely stickier and slightly quieter than the Conti's.
The Toyo's and Bridgestone's above may be stickier, I have not tried them. I am sure they will be less expensive than the Michelin's.

 

IMO Michelin PS4S is the best overall performance tire. The difference is night and day compared with the Conti( and actually compared to most of Michelin’s older tire designs).

 

Hopefully you're still following this thread.

Just bought a 2014 SL65 with Michelin Pilot tires on it and traction is definitely a problem. Was wondering what tires you ended up with?

I've also been looking into whether I can put 295/30s on the rear just to get a bit more rubber on the road. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

 

To update: I determined from another thread that you can put 295/30 on the rear of the SL65, which has 10" wide wheels in rear. Also, for traction the best bet is a good summer tire, like the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S.

 

I never found any difference in traction of tires, except new ones always have more. Another thing to remember, when you change a size, the width also affects the height. They 285 30, is a ASPECT RATIO, of the width to the height, so a 295 is wider and its taller.
That wont be hardly any difference for those sizes, but it is a difference. If you went to 305 or 315 it would be significantly taller. 285 and 295 would be ok for 10" wheels anyway.